Secret Santanado
by LuckyBlackCat
Summary: Merry Christmas! Have a fluffy pre-canon hopefully festive-ish fic starring pretty much the entire team. Written for Chi/wind-fcker as part of the bronado secret santa.


**Notes: This is as shamelessly fluffy and as Christmas-y as I could make it. I thought it would be best to set this a year before canon because Chi, who I got in the bronado secret santa, hasn't finished the game. So this should be spoiler free. I hope you enjoy it, Chi!**

**On another note, I was talking to my brother about it and he said something along the lines of 'What about the Mechon, do they celebrate?"**

**And for some reason I imagined Egil conducting a choir of Faces singing Christmas carols in Cockney accents. Well, Silent Night more specifically. I don't know, brain. I don't know. **

**Anyway, Merry Christmas! **

_Introduction_

On one day of every year, the settlements of Bionis grind to a halt. There is a day of complete peace. The pollen factories of Frontier Village are quiet. The military districts of each Homs colony are still. The fountains are the only thing that can be heard in the centre of Alcamoth. There are no people about. Everyone stays in their homes to spend the day with their loved ones in celebration of…the citizens of Bionis aren't sure. It's some long forgotten tradition that has found its way into the culture of every race. Some of the eldest High Entia will tell stories of a great God named Klaus and say that the day should be used to worship Him, but no-one pays them much attention…

_Frontier Village_

Much excitement surrounded the day of peace in Frontier Village- much of it to do with the grand meal. Food was highly valued among the Nopon, so they'd take any excuse to have a feast. No feast was ever as grand as the feast held on this one day though. There were pollen orbs aplenty, fish from all the waters of the Bionis and samples of dishes from every area. The merchants would return home with carts of food from the Homs colonies and Alcamoth. While the Homs and High Entia celebrated in family units, the Nopon piled as many people and as much food into the areas at the bottom of the village as possible. The villagers saw it as a day to eat together. The littlepon in particular grew very excited at the piles of food and party games that inevitably followed. Competitions over who was able to eat the most fish were commonplace. Being the first Nopon to eat a piece of food from every single area of Bionis was also seen as a great accomplishment. Each Nopon took great pride in his or her contribution to the feast.

As daddypon, it fell to Riki to come up with the contribution for his family. And being Riki, he of course forgot all about it until the very last day before the feast.

"Why Oka not remind me?" he moaned.

"Oka remind you every day for the past week," Oka fumed. "You not disappoint littlepon and embarrass family. You find food. Quick march."

Riki could look for pollen orbs.

Riki could look for mushrooms.

Riki could go fishing.

But Riki only had time to do one. He didn't know what to do. Which foodstuff would make his family most proud?

He made the mistake of asking the littlepon, who of course all wanted different things. It ended in arguments, tears and Oka evicting him from the house.

"I not care what you get! Get lots and get something!" she said, slamming the rickety door behind him.

Fishing it was. At least with fishing you could spend much of the time sitting still- and there were plenty of fish in the lakes of Makna Forest. The fish wouldn't exactly be special, but better the fish than the shame of turning up to the feast empty handed. Riki wanted nothing more than his wife and littlepon to be proud of him.

That evening, Riki returned home with a pile of fish in tow. Oka huffed a bit but her face began to light up as she sorted through the pile.

"Better than expected," she said.

The next day, the smell of cooked fish tempted many Nopon to come and enquire about the food and where and when they could get their hands on it during the time of the feast.

"Proud of you, Riki," said Oka, as they cooked fish together.

"But Riki get big debt because cannot afford to feed littlepon," said Riki.

"It get paid eventually. If Riki work hard," said Oka soothingly.

After an hour or so almost all the fish were cooked and ready to be taken to the feast. There was just one left…

"Where Riki find _this_ fish?" asked Oka, her eyes very wide.

Riki blinked.

"That fish same as all other fish," he said, mystified.

"Riki wrong! This fish have silver scales. All other fish have grey scales."

The fish in question turned out to be an extremely rare specimen that hadn't been seen for a hundred years. Chief Dunga turned up to inspect it. Having the chief come into one's home was an extreme honour and the littlepon were all extremely eager to have their fortunes told.

"This is a sign! A sign your family will be blessed with an extraordinary future!" he boomed.

The littlepon chattered excitedly, but Oka frowned. She was pretty sure she knew what was coming- but it wasn't like they had much choice.

Two months later, Riki became the Heropon. And he would indeed have an extraordinary future.

_Colony 6_

Sharla emptied a sack of ether crystals onto the living room floor. These crystals, like most others found in Colony 6, came from the mine. But these crystals were beyond useless- they had no qualities that could be refined into anything useful. Sharla felt sorry for them in a strange way- poor little ether crystals that nobody wanted…she shook her head. At least they'd be able to put them to some use.

Juju had emptied his own sack out beside her and he was sorting the crystals into piles that could roughly be described as 'shiny', 'super shiny' and 'not shiny at all'.

In Colony 6, it was customary to celebrate the day of peace by decorating the houses with ether crystals. At night, the whole colony would shine beautifully. It was quite a sight to behold. There was also a competitive edge- who could make their house the brightest? Most inhabitants of the colony would spend the day decorating their houses in preparation for the night.

Gadolt was still asleep. Most other days of the year he was up at dawn, so he took any chance he got to sleep in. Sharla didn't approve of spending half the day asleep.

"Think of all those hours you'll never get back!" she had once said to Gadolt.

"You imply sleeping is a waste of time…" said Gadolt, rubbing his eyes.

"Everything doesn't just _stop_ because you're asleep," Sharla persisted.

But she made an exception for this one day. It was a day of peace, after all.

By the time Gadolt emerged, she and Juju had done most of the decorating. The front of their house was decked with red and green crystals. It was Juju's year to pick the colours- Sharla always complained about how red and green clashed awfully. On her year she picked tasteful silvers and blues.

"Where's breakfast?" yawned Gadolt.

"I'm not cooking you anything. You've been no help at all," said Sharla, who was standing at the top of a ladder and attempting to hang crystals across the ceiling.

"Charming," he said. "Come on then, what should I do to appease your majesty?"

He plonked himself down in front of the pile of ether crystals. "You know what these are good for making? Jewellery."

"Stop it," she said.

"I could make you something to eat," said Juju.

"Better not," said Gadolt, pulling face. "Don't want another pancake disaster."

"That was ages ago!"

"All the same, I'd rather you didn't go near anything flammable. You're the decorating expert, stick to that."

Juju nodded. He peered at Sharla's handiwork.

"That's not hung straight," he said.

"Yes it is!" said Sharla.

"It isn't," said Gadolt critically. "Better get Juju to do it. He's got the eye."

Sharla sighed but came down the ladder.

"Where's my good morning kiss?" asked Gadolt.

"Good _afternoon_ kiss," she said.

"So I am getting a kiss then. Excellent."

"Little brother present!" protested Juju.

"Close your eyes, it'll only take a second," said Gadolt.

Sharla laughed and kissed Gadolt on the cheek.

"Not long to go until we're married," he said. "I can't believe it's been a year since we got engaged."

"Me neither. But this is going to be a good year. I just know it," said Sharla. "Now, let's see what we can find for breakfast…"

_Alcamoth_

Melia groaned and opened her eyes. It was difficult to get up when she knew such a horrific day lay before her. For the past week her most trusted friends and guardians had been getting excited at the thought of a day alone with their families. Melia was sure she'd have been far more welcome at their homes than hers, where she was painfully aware of the fact she was 'different'. Her father, 'mother' and brother were the real family- she was just a spare piece no-one was sure what to do with. At least they weren't truly forced together until lunchtime, where they would eat in the dining room. She had a bit of time to kill before then-since her mother had died, she'd spent it with her brother but she'd begun to wonder if he'd rather be left alone.

But her only other option was to stay in her room by herself while the awful lunchtime deadline crawled closer and closer…

She went to see Kallian.

He was where he always was, in the palace living quarters with a thick book. He only had a few pages left to go before finishing. Both siblings shared a love for reading. They could both spend a lot of time discussing books they had read. Melia liked to read about the traditions of the High Entia race. Kallian liked to read about historical figures who'd invented this, that or the other. Melia could see by the cover that this book was different to the usual books they read. Everything in Alcamoth gleamed white, even the books. But this book was a dull brown and the pages were thin and yellowed.

"What are you reading?" Melia asked, curious.

"A Homs fictional work. I found it in the library," Kallian said. "I thought perhaps you'd be interested in it too."

"I thought all of Mother's books were in the Whitewing Palace," she said.

"They must have missed one," he said.

Melia's mother had also liked reading. She'd brought a lot of Homs books with her to Alcamoth and she had often read them aloud to Melia when she was younger. Melia remembered her voice was always very soft with a hint of excitement.

"What's the story about?"

"It's about a girl who discovers she has the ability to fly. She uses her newfound power to save people from every day mishaps…and then at the end it looks like she ends up saving people from Mechon."

Melia nodded. A lot of Homs literature involved the Mechon in some way. When she was younger, some of the descriptions of the cold, soulless machines feasting on screaming Homs had given her nightmares. The books made her glad that she lived in Alcamoth, where she was safe from attack.

"You should put this one with the others," Kallian said.

"It's sad that no-one apart from us ever reads them," said Melia.

He didn't comment, he instead asked: "What did you and your mother used to do on this day?"

She was shocked by the question. Talk of her birth mother had been taboo with her father for quite some time, and as he was the emperor she assumed it would be the same for everyone else. But she answered the question.

"We didn't really do anything special. We used to sit in the garden and enjoy the quiet. Sometimes Mother would tell stories about her home."

"Then, we could go and sit in the garden? In a way, it would be like spending some time with your mother."

She was struck dumb. Kallian was a kind man but often tended to miss what was right in front of him. She supposed he was like their father in that way. But today he must have carefully thought over what her feelings might be. She was touched- and she wondered if perhaps Kallian was just as lonely as she was.

"You're allergic to the flowers," she reminded him.

"I'm sure I'll be fine for a while," he said.

He was wrong. His eyes ran and he kept sneezing but he insisted he was fine, just fine. Melia laughed to herself. The grass was soft beneath her and the sun felt warm through the glass bubble of the city. The day was turning out to be much better than she'd first thought…she wasn't as alone as she thought she was…

_Colony 9_

The meadows just outside Colony 9 were sunny and peaceful as always. Shulk was collecting Mechon parts and Reyn was hiding from Squaretache. As normal.

"You'll have to go back sometime, Reyn," said Shulk.

"Yeah, but this time he's going to kill me for sure," said Reyn. "I really messed up those ether cylinders, dropping them all like that."

"He should've known better than to let _you_ carry anything delicate, Reyn," piped up Fiora from somewhere behind them.

"Oi! Don't sneak up on us like that!" said Reyn. "And who asked you, anyway?"

"Fiora! Are you here to take a break?" asked Shulk.

"No, I'm here because I need to do the grocery shopping for tomorrow. And I need some help carrying the stuff."

"You must be joking. I'm not giving up an afternoon just to help you carry the shopping," said Reyn. "And anyway, Squaretache is bound to catch me if I'm only in the commercial district."

"Oh, so you won't be coming round for the meal tomorrow?" said Fiora.

"What?" said Reyn. "I never said that…"

"Then the least you can do is help me with the shopping," Fiora persisted. "Shulk will. Won't you, Shulk?"

"Yes, of course," he said.

Dunban and Fiora had invited Shulk round to spend the day with them, as Dickson was still off goodness knows where. They never knew when he'd be back, but it didn't seem like it'd be anytime soon. Shulk accepted- on the condition that he could bring Reyn along too. So it was to be the four of them.

"Oh, all right," said Reyn. "I give in."

The commercial district was jam packed. Fiora and Shulk ran round all the different stalls, passing their purchases to Reyn as they went along. Reyn had been designated the pack Ponio- he was to carry everything.

"I'm in trouble for dropping stuff so what do they ask me to do? Carry things," Reyn muttered to himself. "Plus they've bought enough stuff to feed the whole Defence Force!"

They piled back into Dunban's house laden with goods. Fiora began sorting everything out.

"I bought you aubergines, Reyn," said Shulk tossing a parcel at him.

"Aubergines? Thanks man!" said Reyn. He immediately took a bite out of one.

Dunban came down the stairs, having heard all the noise.

"How much have you spent, Fiora?" he said looking at all the food. "Not too much, I hope."

"Don't worry about that," said Fiora cheerfully. "I want to make this meal really special. One that we'll remember forever."

Dunban began to look through the bags, curious.

"You'll ruin the surprise!" Fiora protested.

"I'm not really one for surprises, Fiora," he said, continuing. "Ah, I see what you're doing. I feel hungry just thinking about it."

She smiled and then turned to Reyn.

"Don't eat all the aubergines, I need some of them for the salad."

"Too late," he said, showing her the empty packet. "Shulk said they were for me. I didn't know they were for salad."

"No, here are the ones for the salad," said Shulk, showing them another bag.

"Great. I'll hide them before Reyn eats them," said Fiora. "Close your eyes, Reyn."

Reyn grumbled but closed his eyes anyway.

"Thanks for inviting me, Fiora. I've, er, never really had anything special to do on this day before. I mean, the guys at the Defence Force are great but…it ain't the same as…oh, you know what I mean." Reyn said.

"You can open your eyes now. And you should be thanking Shulk, not me. It was his idea to invite you," said Fiora.

"Yeah…thanks Shulk."

"Oh, no problem Reyn," said Shulk sheepishly.

"It will be nice to have such a full house for once," said Dunban. "I've been looking forward to it."

They spent the rest of the day preparing the food to be cooked for tomorrow. Fiora of course took on the role of head chef and greatly enjoyed ordering everyone around. There was a short crisis where Reyn cut his finger open chopping up an onion but Shulk soon bandaged it up and they were on their way.

Fiora looked over everyone's work. It was going well. Even Reyn hadn't made too much of a mess. Shulk, of course, had chopped and measured everything extremely precisely.

_It's worth putting up with Reyn if I get to spend the day with Shulk, _she thought.

_**End of game spoiler-y epilogue**_

_Eryth Sea_

Alvis looked up at Prison Island. It always looked the same- dark, foreboding. Most High Entia went out of their way to avoid the sight of it but its demonic aura of course had no effect on him.

He smiled and held up a glass of champagne, as though making a toast.

_Merry Christmas, Lord Zanza_


End file.
